What I knew about Lana Del Rey about six months ago: She was some kind of internet sensation, with the inevitable attendant backlash.
What I knew about her about three months ago: That sinuous, mournful-sounding, memorable song I heard one morning on the radio that made me think of Nancy Sinatra, Karen O (in downbeat mode) and Marianne Faithfull (if there had been a mid-period between her youthfully pretty tunes and the raspy, cracked voice with which she reemerged years later) - the sort of song that lingers in the mind and summons associations - and then looked up was "Video Games". If that's what the hype was about, the hype was justified.
What I know now: The lp doesn't live up to the promise of that first song. The strings and Del Rey's alto knit it together, but there's not a lot of substance to it.
What I knew about her about three months ago: That sinuous, mournful-sounding, memorable song I heard one morning on the radio that made me think of Nancy Sinatra, Karen O (in downbeat mode) and Marianne Faithfull (if there had been a mid-period between her youthfully pretty tunes and the raspy, cracked voice with which she reemerged years later) - the sort of song that lingers in the mind and summons associations - and then looked up was "Video Games". If that's what the hype was about, the hype was justified.
What I know now: The lp doesn't live up to the promise of that first song. The strings and Del Rey's alto knit it together, but there's not a lot of substance to it.
